Have you ever wondered what NFL legend Michael Vick would have done if he had never made it big on the gridiron? It turns out the former No. 1 overall pick had a completely different vision for his life and a dream job in mind if football hadn’t worked out.

During a recent appearance on The Messy Middle podcast, hosted by Zaki Rose, Vick shocked fans by revealing that if his football career hadn’t taken off, he would have definitely become an FBI agent.

“I was gonna be an FBI for sure. Yeah, I was going to be FBI agent. Yeah, taking y’all down,” Michael Vick said without any hesitation. “If I can’t make it to the league, I’m gonna make the world a better place, somehow, some way.”

However, his mom, Brenda, actually had a very different vision for him: a lawyer.

“Mom always told me that I was gonna be a lawyer. But I’m like, ‘I wanna spend all my time defending people.’ I’m gonna spend my time fighting for people,” the former Eagles QB said.

Brenda was constantly pushing him to attend law school and become a defense attorney. Vick felt that sitting in a courtroom all day, six days a week, was way too passive for him. He wanted to be out on the streets, making a real difference.

It really does make sense why he wanted to be in the FBI, or why his mom wanted him to be a lawyer, if you know where he’s coming from. Vick grew up in the Ridley Circle Homes, a housing project in Newport News, Virginia. The place is pretty much known for poverty, gang violence, and open d–g trafficking. Growing up and experiencing these surroundings gave him a unique perspective on authority and the concept of protection.

Instead of chasing bad guys for the government, Vick’s life eventually collided with the federal government anyway, but from the completely wrong side of the interrogation table. In the fall of 2007, his NFL career came to a screeching halt when federal authorities and local police uncovered “Bad Newz Kennels,” an illegal multi-state dogfighting operation run on his Virginia property.

He was indicted on federal conspiracy charges, forced to file for bankruptcy, and stripped of his multi-million dollar contracts. Vick ultimately pleaded guilty, wore the badge of federal inmate 33765-183, and spent 18 agonizing months locked away inside a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Needless to say, it was a devastating, public downfall. But at the same time, it also laid the painful groundwork for what would become one of the most high-profile redemption stories in modern sports history.

The greatest off-field comeback in NFL history

After paying his steep debt to society, Vick emerged from prison a changed man, a man he could barely recognize in a good way. The Philadelphia Eagles gave him a historic second chance in 2009, where he won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award and worked closely with the Humane Society to lobby for stricter animal welfare laws.

Today, he is serving as the 19th head football coach for the Norfolk State Spartans, a prominent HBCU program right in his home region of Virginia. NFL coaching legends like Andy Reid have openly praised his transition into coaching.

The Kansas City Chiefs head coach said Vick’s intense life experiences make him uniquely qualified to guide players through any kind of trials and tribulations. He might never have worn an official FBI badge. But by protecting, mentoring, and pouring his life lessons into young athletes, in a way, he finally found his own way to save lives.